Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computing systems and more particularly to development of location context information for utilization by location driven functions of the computing systems.
Description of Related Art
The use of location information by location driven functions of computing systems is well known, where location information includes one or more of an absolute location (e.g., a global positioning satellite (GPS) derived location) and a relative location (e.g., with respect to a known location). Location driven functions includes a wide variety of applications including navigational aids (e.g., routes for driving, bicycling, walking, etc.), service delivery aids (e.g., vehicle route optimization, schedule adherence, etc.), retail shopping aids (e.g., proximity of available product, etc.), and safety and security aids (e.g., motorist assist, personal assist, asset tracking, people tracking, etc.).
The computing systems are known to include computing devices. Examples of the computing devices includes a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a vehicular computing device, a data storage server, and a data processing server. Basically, any device that includes a computing unit, one or more interfaces, and a memory system may be deemed as a computing device.
As is further known, the computing devices may be utilized to obtain location information associated with a particular computing device. In a self-determination approach, a computing device may determine location information associated with the computing device. In an assisted-determination approach, other computing devices may determine the location information associated with the computing device.
The self-determination approaches include receiving GPS signals and determining the location information, mapping received Wi-Fi hotspot identifiers to produce the location information, and mapping received Bluetooth beacon identifiers to produce the location information. The assisted-determination approaches include receiving wireless signals from the computing device (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi, radiofrequency identifier (RFID) tag, Bluetooth, etc.) and analyzing the wireless signals utilizing a signal analysis approach. Signal analysis approaches include time of arrival, time difference of arrival, relative signal strength, triangulating utilizing a plurality of received wireless signals, and analysis of wireless network registration and site handover information (e.g., cellular site registration, cellular signal and timing metrics, Wi-Fi hotspot affiliation, etc.)
The location determining approaches are known to be associated with particular geographic regions and limitations. Examples of the geographic regions includes outdoors-centric with limited indoors and in-vehicle availability (e.g., GPS, other satellite-based location systems) and indoors-centric with limited location accuracy and limited availability (e.g., proximity to one or more Wi-Fi hotspots or Bluetooth beacons). Despite advances in location technologies, is widely recognized that there is not a single location technology to fit all applications (e.g., broad coverage of all geographic regions of interest).
It is well-known that communication of the location information to the location driven functions may be carried out by an associated communication technology and/or an adjunct communication technology. For example, a Wi-Fi message is the associated communication technology when the Wi-Fi hotspot identifier is utilized to produce the location information. As another example, a cellular communication system message is the adjunct communication technology when the GPS signals are utilized to produce the location information. Despite advances in communication technology, it is widely recognized that there is not a single communication technology to provide the communication of the location information in light of other desires beyond the communication of the location information (e.g., battery life of a portable computing device, network charges, equipment costs, indoor vs. outdoors, etc.).
JIO, Inc. introduced a computing system that utilizes unique combinations of location information determination and communication of the location information to the location driven functions to favorably support achieving requirements associated with equipment costs, network costs, location accuracy, location availability, user device size, and user device battery life. In particular, the computing system enables cost-effective tracking of a personal user device, where the personal user device has a very desirable form factor and battery life to promote ease-of-use and overall greater utility.